This invention relates to floor assemblies, and more particularly, to plastic extrusions which are connected to a rigid underlying support, such as wood joists, by a snap connector.
It is very well known to construct floor assemblies, such as decks for homes and boat docks, using wood planks secured to an underlying support, such as spaced wood joists. There are, however, several disadvantages with using exposed wood planks for these applications. Wood, if left untreated, can very quickly rot, thus requiring replacement of some if not all of the wood planks. This occurs especially for wood decks and boat docks that are subject to outdoor weather conditions such as rain, snow and sunlight. In addition, wood planks can shrink, creating unsightly and dangerous gaps in the planking. Finally, wood is becoming more and more expensive.
Pressure treated lumber is widely used to protect the wood from rotting, however, even pressure treated lumber begins to rot over time with exposure to the elements. In addition, it is recommended by most vendors of pressure treated lumber that a protectant be applied to the wood. This protectant usually must be applied yearly. This is a major disadvantage of wood decks, due to the expense and time consuming nature of applying and reapplying this protectant year after year. Failure to be diligent in these applications can lead to early rotting of the exposed wood planks and the major expense and inconvenience of replacing some if not all of the wood planks.
It is known to provide a floor assembly constructed of an extrusion secured to a snap connector, which in turn, is secured to a rigid underlying support, such as wood joists. For example, my commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,427 discloses such a floor assembly. While this floor assembly is effective and well-suited for its intended purposes, improvements and advancements which would result in even better floor assemblies are desirable.
What is needed, therefore, is a floor assembly having an extrusion and associated snap connector which provides for improvements over the prior art.
The invention has met the above mentioned needs as well as others. Specifically, the invention includes a floor assembly which is secured to a rigid underlying support, such as wood joists. The floor assembly includes a plurality of elongated extrusions with each of the elongated extrusions including a pair of outer leg members and a pair of inner leg members. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, each outer leg member is connected to an adjacent inner leg member by a horizontal support member. The horizontal support member improves the overall structural integrity of the elongated extrusions. Each inner leg member also includes a retaining tab extending therefrom.
The floor assembly also includes a snap connector having an elongated based portion and a pair of flanges attached to opposed major sides of the base portion. Each of the flanges extend generally outwardly from the base portion and define, along with the rigid underlying support, a recessed space.
Preferably, the elongated extrusions and/or the snap connector is made of a resilient material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), so that the elongated extrusions may be pressed onto the snap connector and then snapped in place to mechanically secure the elongated extrusions to the snap connector. Preferably, the retaining tabs of the inner legs are received in the recessed space in order to provide for the mechanical securing of the elongated extrusions to the snap connectors.